Cheerful Amnesia (Akarui Kioku Soushitsu) is a Romantic Comedy Yuri manga by Tamamushi Oku, which ran in Comic Cune from 2016 to 2020 and published by Yen Press in English-language markets. It takes the Amnesiac Lover trope and plays it for comedy instead of for drama. Arisa is quickly falling back in love with Mari, but there are a few bumps in the road. Mari was the more submissive one (bottom) in their relationship, relying on Arisa to take the initiative in several areas of their relationship. Now that Arisa has lost the memories of the experiences that placed her as the top, both of them have a lot of learning and growing to do to navigate through and understand this new version of their love!
This work provides examples of the following:
- A-Cup Angst: During the three years they were dating, Arisa expresses her discontent with her small breasts, upset that they aren't as big as Mari's. Mari's solution is to give Arisa regular breast massages, and after a few weeks, Arisa's delighted to see that she's grown by one cup size.
- Accidental Innuendo: In-Universe: When the two of them are at the store, their conversation leaves the clerk wondering what exactly they're going to be doing with the carrot they're buying.
- All Women Are Prudes: Completely averted. Before the accident, Arisa and Mari had quite the active sex life. Arisa herself was a total horndog to boot.
- Almost Kiss: Played with. Arisa tries to kiss Mari, hoping it will jog some memories but finds herself freezing up out of nervousness. Mari realizes that she can't expect for their relationship to be the same as before with Arisa being the top, so she initiates the kiss instead.
- Amnesiac Lover: Arisa has completely forgotten the past two years of her life, including her relationship with Mari, but that won't stop the fact that she's still completely head over heels for her.
- Flashback:
- The series is occasionally peppered with scenes of other characters recalling previous encounters with Arisa prior to her amnesia, and sometimes relaying these stories to her.
- An extended one occurs during the marriage ceremony, when the sight of a crying Mari causes a large chunk of Arisa's memories to return, going into detail about how Arisa helped Mari open up and find the confidence to do what she loved instead of settling for an office job.
- Love at First Sight: Arisa does this twice towards Mari.
- Arisa fell in love with Mari when she saw her working at a fast food restaurant, and proceeded to visit her workplace daily for the next year until Mari was finally willing to hang out with her.
- When Mari visits Arisa the first time after the latter's amnesia, Arisa immediately gets a crush blush despite not recalling the woman in front of her.
- Mistaken for Cheating:
- Mari worries that Arisa might be cheating on her with her coworker, Maeda, who secretly has a crush on Mari, unknowing that she's a lesbian. When Mari snoops in Arisa's phone to see if she and Maeda have been texting, all she finds is them trading candid pictures of Mari and stories about how cute she is.
- Mari is later contacted by Maeda's wife after the two of them got married, who believes that her husband is cheating on her with Mari after she found photos of her on his phone and he attempted to name their daughter after Mari. Mari and Arisa meet with them, and Arisa tries to say that they're dating, but the wife doesn't really buy it. After she and Maeda come to their wedding, she apologizes for accusing Mari of fooling around with Maeda.
- My Eyes Are Up Here: The 4koma sequence right after Arisa lays eyes on Mari is titled "Her eyes are up here" and involves Arisa staring at Mari's boobs, while Mari's only dialogue is "..."
- Noodle Incident: What exactly caused Arisa's amnesia? All that we know is that Arisa went missing for 3 days, came to with no memory, and the doctors said it was probably because of a significant psychological event in Arisa's brain. It's later revealed that it was caused by her getting really happy from Mari proposing to her.
- Old Maid: One minor character is a 30-year-old saleswoman who recently broke up with her boyfriend of five years. Since she sells bridal jewelry for a living, she naturally gets jealous of the couples but becomes happy for Mari and Arisa.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": Due to her amnesia, Arisa initially can't unlock her phone. Mari suggests the password is her birthday—and she's right. Apparently, for the three years they dated and before Arisa's amnesia, she only used that as any number-based password.
- Running Gag: Arisa constantly declares loudly, in public, her sexual relationship with Mari, much to Mari's embarrassment.
- Title Drop: The first strip of the series is simply titled "Cheerful Amnesia."
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Inverted. Arisa's amnesia was caused by her getting overexcited when Mari proposed to her.
- Waterfall Puke / Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Arisa after drinking too much at a class reunion.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Mari's very afraid of insects, and the first time she thought Arisa was cool was when she fearlessly went into Mari's apartment to take away some cockroaches that were crawling around.
